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Motorsports Monday: Time to act on open-wheel cockpit covers

Wheels Editor Norris McDonald says the future of the sport is at stake if something isn't done to protect the heads of drivers in open-wheel racing competition.

Justin Wilson, seen earlier this year preparing to qualify for an IndyCar race at Milwaukee, is fighting for his life in a hospital in Allentown, Pa., after being injured in a fluke accident at Pocono Raceway Sunday. (jeffrey phelps / AP file photo)

As someone who’s loved motorsports all his life, the accident to Justin Wilson in the Verizon IndyCar Series race at Pocono Sunday has left me feeling drained.

Why? Because I’ve been preaching for years that some sort of protection had to be made available for drivers of open-wheel, open-cockpit racing cars, the glamour-puss class of all of automobile racing.

And nothing was done. Now this.

The Englishman was hit flush in his helmeted face by a nose cone that had come off driver Sage Karam’s crashed car and bounced high in the air. Wilson essentially drove into the debris at close to 200 miles an hour and didn’t have a chance of avoiding it.

Knocked unconscious at point of impact, Wilson was a passenger as his car turned left and went pretty much head-on into a retaining wall. Retired driver Paul Tracy, announcing on the NBC Sports Channel telecast, was the first to notice that there was unusual activity by the safety crew around Wilson’s car – a clue that the crash was much worse than a number of others that had taken place earlier in the race.

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At time of writing, and I will change this if there are developments, IndyCar had announced that Wilson was in hospital in Allentown, Pa., suffering from a severe head injury. He was in a coma and in critical condition. NASCAR’s Tony Stewart had made his plane available to take Wilson’s wife and other family members to his bedside.

For this Monday Morning Racing Roundup, I will dispense with the usual wise cracks. Motorsport is the most beautiful of sports, with incredible highs and lows. Right now, we are at a low because there are simply too, too many drivers being killed or injured because of that lack of protection.

Stop and think about this for a moment: Ayrton Senna and a shaft through his helmet. Jeff Krosnoff and a light standard, right here in Toronto. Felipe Massa and that spring. Dan Wheldon and the fence at Las Vegas. James Hinchcliffe and a piece of debris through his helmet on the road course at Indy. The death of Maria de Villota directly related to her F1 test accident in which she hit a truck and lost an eye. Jules Bianchi and the tractor. Now Wilson with a piece of a nose cone flying through the air.

All suffered catastrophic head injuries because of open cockpits that leave the driver exposed and vulnerable. Everybody knows this but nobody so far has done anything about it.

It’s not the first time.

For the first 20 years of the modern F1 world championship – and for 50 years before that – sports car and formula car drivers refused to wear seat belts or shoulder harness when they were racing. They figured in an accident that they were safer being thrown out of the car.

Several things combined to change their minds. Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt – they all went to Indianapolis in the 1960s to race in the 500 and they all had to wear belts and harnesses because of the rules. Stewart then started to wear the straps in his BRM F1 car and the idea caught on. Before long, virtually all of the drivers and the people in charge of the sport realized the folly of being thrown out of a car when it became obvious to anyone with a brain that being belted inside one was safer.

For years, I have written again and again that all open-cockpit racing cars should be fitted with roll cages like the ones on oval-track supermodified cars. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the sanctioning bodies administering rules for midget and sprint-car competition mandated that those cars have roll cages also. Deaths and injuries declined noticeably, as a result.

I remind you of this because, as happened following the deaths of Wheldon, Bianchi, et al, the suggestion was raised almost immediately that some sort of cockpit cover could perhaps have saved Wilson from the injuries he suffered. Of course, my favourite race-driver-turned-favourite-race-announcer, Tracy, was fast off the mark with the “maybe you wouldn’t be able to get out” observation, which reminds me of the better-to-be-thrown-out-of-the-car reactionaries.

I say let’s find out. There is no longer any more time for talk. There is only time for action. Design a canopy for open-cockpit cars that will fit on everything from Formula 1200 to Formula One road-racing cars and get on with it. Stop talking and start doing.

When a canopy or some other type of roll cage prevents eight racing drivers from exiting their cars after an accident, resulting in their death or serious injury (see the names above), then we can always take them off and try something else.

But until then, we should be taking every step possible to eliminate the danger. I say this because, maybe for the first time, I’m thinking about this in terms of the future of open wheel, open-cockpit racing.

My wife just came into my office and asked me if I would like to take my grandson to a sporting event where somebody could be killed or so badly injured that they would wither away and eventually die?

And so I told her about the New York Yankee pitcher who was hit in the face by a line drive the other day and she said, “Yes, but did he die?”

If my wife is thinking that, I guarantee she is not the only one. Therefore, we have to do something, before it’s too late. By that, I mean if we don’t act, somebody else will.

We don’t need any more Krosnoffs, or Bianchis, or Wheldons or Wilsons.

Ever again.

WHO WON (for the record)

Ryan Hunter-Reay won that IndyCar race at Pocono, with Josef Newgarden second and points leader Juan Pablo Montoya third. The series will wind up the season next weekend on a road course in California. Double points will be awarded, which means the championship is still very much up for grabs. Will Power was fourth in the race and Carlos Munoz was fifth. There were many accidents, with Helio Castroneves, Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball – among others – all going off on the hook. Kimball’s wreck was his second of the weekend, his first being truly spectacular. For a full race report, please click here.

Joey Logano won the NASCAR Sprint Cup race Saturday night at Bristol, Tenn. Kevin Harvick was second and Denny Hamlin third. It was a good race with great driving in front of a near-capacity crowd. Please click here for a full report.

At the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, Lewis Hamilton won yet another Formula One Grand Prix and Nico Rosberg finished second, again. Sebastian Vettel was on the way to finish third when a tire let go with two laps to go, which made him extremely angry. Romain Grosjean came through for Lotus to finish third.

Ben Edwards did his darndest to make the telecast exciting – but it wasn’t. David Coulthard sounded like he’d rather have been somewhere else. Even Hamilton was largely subdued on the cool-down lap. Just another day at the office, for him. Click here for the particulars.

There was a HUGE crowd at the race in Belgium. The NASCAR crowd was very healthy (as indicated above) while everybody seemed pleased by the turnout for IndyCar at Pocono but the place was half empty. Too bad, too. With the exception of the Wilson accident, it was a hellva race.

Guy Ligier, who started life as a butcher’s apprentice, made a fortune in construction when France built it motorway highway system, started driving in Grand Prix races and then went on to establish his own F1 team, has died at age 85.

An all-round sportsman who was a champion rower, national team rugby player and motorcycle racer, Ligier made his F1 debut in the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix, driving a Cooper Maserati. He was 35 at the time. Ligier drove in only 12 Grands Prix – a sixth in the German GP was his best finish - and the racing death of close friend Jo Schlesser in 1968 brought about his retirement.

Ligier then moved into sports car construction, with his first named the JS1 to honour the memory of Schlesser. He then bought Matra Sports in 1974, enabling him to return to F1 with his own team.

At Virginia International Raceway, the Prototype classes had the weekend off and the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship main event featured the two GT classes, Le Mans and Daytona.

The overall and GT Le Mans win went to the No. 911 Porsche North America 911 RSR driven by Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy. Second came the 912 Porsche North America team car driven by Joerg Bergmeister and Earl Bamber. Pierre Kaffer and Giancarlo Fisichella finished third in the Risi Competizione Ferrari F458.

This was the third straight win for Tandy and Pilet. “The car was just amazing,” Pilet said. “I know it looked easy from the outside, but we had to manage tires and fuel. But we had no issues, no mistakes, nothing.”

In the GT Daytona class, Ferrari prevailed as the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia of Bill Sweedler and Indianapolis 500 veteran Townsend Bell dominated most of the race, and came home ahead of the charging No. 007 TRG-AMR Aston Martin V12 Vantage driven by Christina Nielsen in the first stint, and 2014 GT Le Mans champion Kuno Wittmer of Hudson, Que., in the second. Third was the No. 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Porsche 911 GT America of Mario Farnbacher and Ian James.

On Saturday, in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge headliner at Virginia International, the overall and Grand Sport class winners were the Porsche 911 brother act of Matt and Hugh Plumb. Chevrolet Camaros were second and third in Grand Sport, driven by Lawson Aschenbach and Matt Bell and Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell, respectively.

In the Street Tuner class, a win by Spencer Pumpelly and Luis Rodriguez, Jr. gave Porsche a sweep for the race. Their No. 17 RS1 Porsche Cayman finished ahead of Jeff Mosing and Eric Foss. Third was the Mazda MX-5 of Christian Szymczak and Justin Piscitell.

Australian race driver Scott Andrews made a clean sweep of both Toyo Tires F1600 pole positions and collected both wins at Calabogie's MCO Ted Powell Memorial at the weekend. Racing in the United States this year, but with an open weekend, Andrews won his first pole position Saturday with a time that was almost a second under the track record. He had never seen the Calabogie circuit prior to his arrival on Friday.

On Saturday night at Merrittville Speedway near Thorold, Ridgeway’s Gary Lindberg won his second 40-lap Gabe Bellante Memorial feature as part of Pen Centre Night. The victory also earned Lindberg the 2015 David Chevrolet King of the Crates Series Title.

On Saturday night at Peterborough Speedway, drivers in three classes locked up front-row starting positions for the track’s upcoming Autumn Colours Classic. Tyler Junkin won the Mini Stock class, Rick Walt and Bryan Mercer locked up inside and outside pole positions for the Earl Ireland Aiugo Sales Late Model division race (Walt won the feature Saturday night and Mercer was second) and young Caden Lapcevich won the Paul Davis Systems Thunder Car feature and the pole in that class for the Classic. Also on the night’s program was the hometown Renegade Truck class – that race was won by Tim Burke - and the Ontario Modifieds Racing Series. That feature was won by Robert Warnes.

On Saturday night at Brighton Speedway, it was the 4th annual Weese Racing Anti-Bullying Night presented by Towne and Country Liquidation and Read’s Accounting. Charlie Sandercock won the Vanderlaan Building Products RUSH Pro Late Model feature. Dan Ferguson won the Bainer’s OilGARD Modified division. Doug Anderson was first in the Brighton Automotive Pro Stock feature. Josh Read captured the Bill’s Johns Comp 4 feature and Mike Freeman swept the Gord’s Water Vantastics race.

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